{"id":13623,"date":"2024-11-13T17:38:06","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T17:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hatfieldroadmethodist.org\/?p=13623"},"modified":"2024-11-28T11:27:20","modified_gmt":"2024-11-28T11:27:20","slug":"day-4-galatians-4-verses-1-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hatfieldroadmethodist.org\/?p=13623","title":{"rendered":"Day 4 – Galatians 4 Verses 1 – 7 (What a gift of Grace)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/h3>\n

Bible Reading – Galatians 4 Verses 1-7<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a>What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate.<\/span> 2\u00a0<\/sup>The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.<\/span> 3\u00a0<\/sup>So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world.<\/span> 4\u00a0<\/sup>But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,<\/span> 5\u00a0<\/sup>to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.<\/span> 6\u00a0<\/sup>Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, \u201cAbba<\/i>, Father.\u201d<\/span> 7\u00a0<\/sup>So you are no longer a slave, but God\u2019s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.<\/span><\/p>\n

Opening Prayer<\/h2>\n

Loving God, we come before you today and read these glorious words of scripture. We thank you that Jesus came into the world to restore our relationship with you. To enable us to be your children with all of the blessings that brings. We thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit which is ever present in our hearts. Amen<\/p>\n

Reflection<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a>Today’s passage is a wonderful awesome one. We are all accepted as children of God because of Jesus and not only that but we are empowered in our daily lives by the gift of the Spirit. The Spirit which inspires us, guides and encourages us. Sometimes in our over enthusiasm holds us back and slows us down. As we prepare our gifts for each other and the things we will need for our celebrations let’s not forget the greatest gift of all.<\/p>\n

I am often frustrated by “church” and our need to have endless meetings to decide what we should be doing. In particular when someone has an idea prompted by the Holy Spirit and is then shouted down or their idea kicked into the “long grass”. I am all for discernment and validation of ideas but not to the point where we tell each other what God has spoken to us is either our imagination or wrong.<\/p>\n

I am sure I have spoken of this frustration before but, at least in my mind, the promptings of the Spirit are for action not discussion!<\/p>\n

A time for your own reflection<\/h2>\n

Read the passage again and spend a little time thinking of how the passage speaks to you. The wonder of scripture is that there is always something new to discover and each passage speaks to us in our own need and circumstances.<\/p>\n

Only if you feel you want to – share your thoughts with someone. God inspires our thoughts and you never know, the person you share with may be waiting to hear what you have to say.<\/p>\n

Song<\/h2>\n

Here is the next song –<\/p>\n

“What a gift of Grace”<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Today’s song is one of the first ones I wrote as part of this series. I wanted to stress the fact the wonder that through the nativity of Jesus we are all able to be children of God. On reflection I probably would have used Son in the second line of the chorus rather than child. It sounds a little like Jesus is a child of God. Which he is but in our hearts he is in fact God. Perhaps I will change it at some point in the future. I was using a free version of the A.I. engine when this was written and it did not allow re-creation of sections of the song. I now subscribe and am able to “tinker” with words without needing to recreate the whole song. So I hope you will not be put off by the theological mystery of the Trinity.<\/p>\n

Words: Chris Hancock<\/strong>
\nInspiration: Galatians 4 verses 1-7<\/strong>
\nMusic: Generated on Suno,.com<\/strong><\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.hatfieldroadmethodist.org\/wptest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/What-a-gift-v4.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

[Verse 1]<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Look, what a gift of grace,
\nGod has offered us,
\nWe can take our place,
\nAs children called by God.<\/p>\n

[Chorus]<\/strong><\/p>\n

Child of God found in a stable,
\nChild of God found in our hearts,
\nThrough this child we are able,
\nIn his family, to play our parts.<\/p>\n

[Verse 2]<\/strong><\/p>\n

Though it is not clear,
\nWhat turns our lives will make;
\nWhen we meet our Saviour here,
\nWe will know the way to take.<\/p>\n

[Chorus]<\/strong><\/p>\n

Child of God found in a stable,
\nChild of God found in our hearts,
\nThrough this child we are able,
\nIn his family, to play our parts.<\/p>\n

[Verse 3]<\/strong><\/p>\n

So in the Fathers’ love,
\nWe share a family part,
\nHe sends the Spirit, from above,
\nTo live within our hearts.<\/p>\n

[Chorus]<\/strong><\/p>\n

Child of God found in a stable,
\nChild of God found in our hearts.
\nThrough this child we are able,
\nIn his family, to play our parts.<\/p>\n

[Verse 4]<\/strong><\/p>\n

So in the Fathers’ love,
\nWe share a family part,
\nHe sends the Spirit, from above,
\nTo live within our hearts.<\/p>\n

[Chorus]<\/strong><\/p>\n

Child of God found in a stable,
\nChild of God found in our hearts.
\nThrough this child we are able,
\nIn his family, to play our parts.<\/p>\n

Prayer<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a>Loving and gracious God we thank you that you sent your Son into the world. The greatest of gifts given to us. Sent to restore our relationship with you. Thank you that you have made it possible for us all to be in your family. Help us to embrace the freedom and love you have given us.<\/p>\n

Help us to speak the truth in love and to stand firm in our faith.<\/p>\n

We confess that there are times when seek our own way and think we can manage on our own. Times when we are filled with struggles and doubts. We thank you for the presence of your Holy Spirit always in our hearts and comforting us in these difficult times. Help us to listen to your words to us. Encourage us to action in your name so that we will draw others to you and glorify your name<\/p>\n

Help us to grow in faith and grow ever closer to you every day of our lives. Amen.<\/p>\n

Copyrights<\/h2>\n

Reflections and Prayers<\/h3>\n

By Chris Hancock<\/p>\n

Songs<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Words of the songs are by Chris Hancock
\nMusic generated on Suno.com
\nIf you are a user of the free tier of the Service then, you covenant and agree that you will only use Outputs generated from Submissions made by you through the Service solely for your lawful, internal, personal and non-commercial purposes, provided that you give attribution credit to Suno in each case.<\/p>\n

Bible Readings<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Bible readings are from the New<\/a> International Version<\/a> (NIV)
\n<\/strong>Holy Bible, New International Version\u00ae, NIV\u00ae Copyright \u00a91973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.\u00ae<\/a> Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.<\/p>\n

Images<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Images where used are from pixabay.com and free for commercial use no attribution required.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bible Reading – Galatians 4 Verses 1-7 What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2\u00a0The...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13852,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advent-2024"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.hatfieldroadmethodist.org\/wptest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Day-4-feature.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hatfieldroadmethodist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hatfieldroadmethodist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hatfieldroadmethodist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hatfieldroadmethodist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hatfieldroadmethodist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13623"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.hatfieldroadmethodist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14044,"href":"http:\/\/www.hatfieldroadmethodist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13623\/revisions\/14044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hatfieldroadmethodist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hatfieldroadmethodist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hatfieldroadmethodist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hatfieldroadmethodist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}